Characterization and bentonite amendment of oil contaminated soils

Abstract

Bentonite has the advantages of strong hygroscopicity, expansibility, adsorptivity and adhesivity. It can ameliorate and reclaim soils. This research focused on the oil contaminated soils amendment by bentonite. The oil contaminated soils were characterized with different techniques and compared with the background soils to evaluate its contaminating level. The results indicated that the soils were heavily contaminated with oil and its ventilation, porosity and bioaccessibility were greatly affected. The addition of bentonite could affect the physical-chemical properties of soils and the possible mechanisms were discussed. It was demonstrated that bentonite addition could improve the soils water conservation, the air ventilation in soil and the sticky particles percentage. However, the pH increased a little by adding bentonite. The addition of bentonite could enhance the oil degradation.